Installing JRM reels?
Yes, I am, price point was great, and I have used many of their products in the past and found them superior to OEM most times. My 2500 E both needed new reels this season due to the HOC here at the course on greens. Both units have about 2000 hours, top dressing every other week, seasonal course cutting at .1000 "Last season had a little trouble getting to this HOC without having to flip bedbar pivot bolt mounts and grinding back of bottom blades to prevent dragging.
Packaging was ok blocking could be bigger than reel diameter would help. Received 6 infinity reels to do both machines
Checked on OEM pricing for seals and bearings etc. . and they were in the ballpark for purchase.
As you can easily see worn down quite a bit.
First thing I'm doing is raising HOC till I see an inch difference. Just to get it close.
Allen head beveled screws can be hard to get out. If you strip one sometimes punch the top will get it out. There is an area on bar to wrench off to. I did hit everything with penetrating fluid before starting. Also use a good Allen key and bury it in good with a hammer helps and loosens any corrosion.
Removing bottom blade. Installing new ones. If your using old ones then top face and front face them so they look even cut across. I also turn adjuster clockwise till they were near bottoming out to speed up installation. New reels will have everything from previous setting way out of whack.
Still have life in them and keep till I need them.
Now is the time to flip your bottom blade pivot mounts back to new reel install. Picture above has NOT been flipped yet. Flat side up.
Loosening all roller hardware. Check roller bearings and clean them up before install.
See the bottom blade pivot mount in this pic is the correct position.
Removing any additional hardware. Rear roller brush kits in my case. Clean up and check for wear, replace belt if needed.
You can clean up adjusters. I did one of mine but found them to be good. If you have any seized up ones, now is the time to free up and or replace.
Removed bolts for top frame that hold side plates in place.
First time tearing down A JD reel. In true JD fashion in my experience make repairs difficult because of lacking easy access to service information.
Hence the blog posts.
You can leave the snap rings in. Was good to see that if you had a bad bearing it can be replaced very quickly and easily.
5-year-old reels only took a light tap to pop everything apart.
C clip both sides.
Wave bearing preload tensioner on one side. Check clean and replace as needed. Now the time to clean it well before reassembling.
Yes, races are loose. After replacing 6 reels I did NOT notice any concerning wear. If there is replace side frame.
Assembled dry. Once lined up perfectly it will push in place with finger pressure.
Just for show. Pre-pack bearing
Still old school
New seal. Grease the seal lip.
Ready for reassembly. I installed the rollers on left side plate facing reel. Then reel. If you have to tap bearing on only tap on inner part of race.
First one I tried without rollers .... and yes, as pointed out by my peer's reel is in wrong way. Lol even after 20 + years I messed up. Only took 10 minutes to flip it the right way. Left pic on to show that we are human. Leave frame bolts slightly loose. Also a few pics below show reel in wrong position. Found out after the fact. Process is still the same. My trial pics. Adjusters were installed before final frame assembling on rest of units.
Tighten up right side (facing reel) front and rear rollers leaving 1/8 to 3/16" gap.
Installing new bottom blade and truing it up on grinder.Want to have everything to spec before squaring reel up. Especially for low HOC.
Install bedbar and adjusters. Line up reel so maximum reel contact is on bottom blade. Then adjust reel in tight till adjuster feel loose.
Both sides. Turn adjuster a half turn at a time.
The adjuster spring tension will square reel up. I gave mine a light tap on 4 corners before torquing to spec.
Just lightly make contact Criss cross pattern before final torque. Then in tighten other side of rollers and install pull frame.
Check front to see if it is squared up with reel. 2 out of 6 of mine where off .
Using a bench plate make sure reel is sitting on bar and front face is making contact on both ends.
Checking both sides. If for some reason you cannot get the adjustment you may have to drop opposite side down too. Feeler gauge should not slide under either end.
Reely like this system JD has for squaring roller to reel.
Before the first grind on a new reel, I am going to set HOC before and after first touch up spin grind.
The JRM reels spun in very well. They are balanced from factory to. Sounds great.
Just like the cut strips say. Reel
Sharp
Just a pic of laying out parts
Overall outlook on product quality and fitting ... Excellent!!!!!
